The game known as “The Female Corpse’s Bones” might look terrifying on the surface, but compared to the game of hide-and-seek, its difficulty was actually quite different, and its item rewards were naturally far more limited as well.

Take the longevity lock that Shen Mo had claimed — it seemed very useful at first glance, but on careful reflection, it was actually inferior to the frog’s mud.

The mud could instantly heal wounds, and it worked up to nine times.

The longevity lock could only reduce the severity of a wound, for only three uses, and the third use was almost as good as useless.

Its only minor advantage was that the wounds it could reduce were not limited to flesh injuries.

Bai Youwei turned back to face the inspector and quipped again, “Then if I chose the female corpse inside the coffin, you’d have to strip off all her jewelry and clothes and hand her over to me completely bare, wouldn’t you?”

Ghost-fire wavered. “Theoretically… that is correct.”

Bai Youwei let out a cold laugh, fixing ghost-fire with a dark, calculating stare.

Ghost-fire: “…”

For some reason, it drifted slightly backward…

Remembering its own sacred role, it fought down the surge of unease and moved forward again, letting its flames flare up to project an imposing presence.

Bai Youwei’s expression remained cold. Without a word, she turned and headed toward the doorway.

Shen Mo caught her arm. “Where are you going?”

“I need to go outside and calm down!” she said irritably.

And with that, she actually wheeled herself out.

Shen Mo followed after her.

Fu Miaoxue immediately sprang out from behind Du Lai and watched the whole spectacle with gleeful curiosity. “Wow, they actually both left! Does that count as forfeiting the reward? Does that mean we can leave now?”

Ghost-fire replied, “The game cannot end until all reward settlement is complete.”

Fu Miaoxue’s mouth puckered. “What? If she refuses to make a selection forever, does that mean we can never leave?”

Du Lai took her hand and gave her a calm look that said: don’t be impatient.

There was no food here, no water — it wasn’t possible to stay indefinitely. Bai Youwei would come back to choose her reward eventually.

He was still thinking this when voices suddenly drifted in from outside — a low murmuring, scattered and indistinct, impossible to make out, but clearly more than two people.

Then Bai Youwei and Shen Mo returned.

And behind them were three extra people!

Tan Xiao! Cheng Weicai! Pan Xiaoxin! All three of them were dressed in pajamas and wearing slippers, their faces flushed with excitement as they trailed in behind Bai Youwei!

Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai were thunderstruck, their eyes going wide!

“What item is she using?! How did she summon actual living people?!” Fu Miaoxue clutched Du Lai’s arm, her jaw dropping. “That — that old man! Isn’t that the guy who was reciting classical texts on the first night?!”

Bai Youwei ignored her. She went straight to ghost-fire and demanded coldly, “Any player who survives to the end of the game may choose one burial item — isn’t that the rule?”

Ghost-fire stared at her in horror, its blue-green flames shaking violently!

Here it comes!

Here it comes!

She was looking for a loophole again!

“If the inspector says nothing, I’ll take that as confirmation!” Bai Youwei waved her hand coolly. “Take everything!”

Tan Xiao surged forward first, scooping up the incense burner!

Cheng Weicai grabbed a pipa!

Pan Xiaoxin looked left and right, then snatched up a bronze mirror!

“No…” Ghost-fire trembled violently — like a torch burning in a gale, its flames flickering wildly!

In the chaos, when no one was paying attention, a severed hand flipped itself over the rim of the coffin and swept up a fistful of pearls and jade!

Then it leapt back out of the coffin!

And with a speed that left no time to react, it fled through the doorway — scattering pearls and gemstones clattering across the floor behind it!

“NO!!!” Ghost-fire finally roared and gave chase — but when it reached the dollhouse, it slammed into an invisible wall and could not get through no matter what it tried!

“This is cheating!!!” The raw anguish in its hoarse cry was unmistakable.

Bai Youwei followed outside, genuinely a little surprised herself. She looked at the inspector and said, “You can’t blame me for that — I didn’t tell it to do that. If it really had been acting on my orders, I’d never have told it to take only a bunch of gold and jewels.”

—